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Punching paper or trail walks, I use spit for lube. Don't have to swab at all for any caliber shooting 25+ shots. Hunting is a different animal, use olive oil for lube there, but since big game hunting is a one shot deal, swabbing is irrelevant. Small game with a .32 involves maybe 5 or 6 shots...

They're referring to wiping the bore with a damp patch to remove powder fouling. If done correctly, loading subsequent shots is easier and keeps the bore in consistent condition from shot to shot for improved accuracy. May or may not be related to your ignition problems. You're going to have...

Have a couple of .44 LePages but no .45. Here's my 2c: Believe Pedersoli calls for a .445 ball in their .45's so start there. Best guess would be a .010" patch and 20gr FFFg to start, working up from there until you hit the sweet spot.

Moving the rear sight forward a bit helps (at least for awhile).

Been using 3/4" X 7/8" in mine (Early English). A full size musket flint would be way too big. Laffindog would have the definitive answer.

My three large caliber rifles have 36, 37 and 38" barrels so I guess that pretty much sums up my length preference. My "other" rifle is a 42" squirrel gun. Two of the three big bores are swamped, the third is half round/half octagon. The squirrel gun is straight. Don't worry so much about...

When the mood strikes and the weather cooperates in Oregon:

Just a guess, but looking at your patches, I'm thinking you're damaging them at the crown when you load. Might have a sharp edge there, maybe break it down some with a little steel wool would help.

FWIW, swamped barrels shoot just fine and RB rifling won't cause blown patches. Have you checked the patches on your first two "good" shots? Are they intact or blown? What exactly do your blown patches look like? (i.e. pictures would be helpful). Only thing I can think of is a bore problem...

Kind of depends on what I'm hunting. Mule deer and birds in the Columbia Basin: Ducks at Sauvie Island (lower Columbia): Bear out in the Wallowas (eastern Oregon):

FWIW, My .58 flintlock has a 36" D weight Colerain barrel, 1/56" twist rate. Standard paper punching load is a .562 home cast ball, drill patch (about .018" from JoAnne's fabric store), spit lube and 70 grain's FFFg Goex. Hunting loads are 90gr FFFg and olive oil lube. Shoots 3" to 3...

42" GM barrel with 1/48" twist. .318 ball, drill patch (about .018") 20 gr FFFg Goex. Sub 1/2" groups at 25 yds.

Track of the Wolf has a full stock Hawken kit that is keyed and hooked. They also have a Tennessee rifle that is keyed but doesn't have a hooked breech.

Oh wait, you've already done it. Yeah, that's some real empirical evidence right there.

Never figured out a reject rate. Most of the rejects come from the first 30 or so castings, probably because I don't have the mold temperature quite right until then.

You're free to do whatever test you choose. I did mine and I'm acting according to what I found. I eagerly await the results of your exhaustive, blind testing.

Since a fair amount of my hunting requires the use of non-toxic shot, I use shot cups to protect the bore. Yeah, it's not HC, but you gotta do what you gotta do. My load is powder, overpower card, lubed fiber wad, shot cup, shot (in my case, I use Hevi-shot) and over shot card. The over powder...

Rejects were all based on weight. Some rejects looked fine, others were obviously flawed. Most rejects were light as my criteria was 270 +/- 1 gr. Very few have ever weighed more than 271 gr. Random tests with good and bad ball probably would have produced the same results, but with apparent...

Did a test with my .58 flint. 50yds, benched. 10 shots with weighed balls (+\- 1gr.) and 10 shots with the rejects. 1 1/2" vice 2 1/2" groups. Now I save the weighed ones for serious stuff and use the rejects for practice/plinking.

Peen the notch.